Crystal Palace

Player News - Crystal Palace

Yohan Cabaye will have to wait on Crystal Palace to see if his contract is renewed for another season this summer.

The Frenchman is out of a contract this summer after spending the last three seasons in south London. Since leaving Paris Saint-Germain in 2015, the midfielder has made 109 appearances for the Eagles. Palace are set to hold talks with Cabaye this month amid rumors of a move to French side Marseille. Said Cabaye: "I don’t know what the future holds. It was a hard, tough season so I will have a chat with my agent, the club and the chairman. I have no stress about my future, so I just wanted to enjoy today and then see what happens next. I’ve had three fantastic seasons here, I love the club and my life in London is perfect, so I will see."

Crystal Palace ended its season with an exclamation point with another win after a 2-0 result against West Brom.

Patrick van Aanholt was the star once again as the Dutch left-back scored for the third consecutive game, an impressive accomplishment for a defender. In the 70th minute, van Aanholt collected the assist after finding Wilfried Zaha to put Palace ahead. Just eight minutes later, van Aanholt scores his fifth goal of the season after connecting with Andros Townsend to put the match away for good when he broke through the Baggies’ defender. Roy Hodgson and company will only hope to parlay the Eagles’ six-match unbeaten steak to end the year into next season after finishing 11th on 44 points.

Crystal Palace were trailing with just over twenty minutes to go, but a couple of mistakes by Stoke City allowed the Eagles to score twice in the final stages to nab a 1-2 win.

To no one's surprise, the Eagles were unchanged following their 5-0 display last weekend. They had a tough assignment in this one, facing a Stoke side fighting for their top flight lives, and it took some time to find the net. The first half was marked by bad news, as Joel Ward had to be removed with an ankle injury that looks to probably cut his season short. Then, the Eagles would concede just before the break. Fortunes turned in the final half hour though. Stoke had just brought on young Ramadan Sobhi as a substitute and he promptly gave away the ball that led to a quick counter-attack which ended with Reuben Loftus-Cheek linking with James McArthur, the latter scoring for the second match straight. Then another error by Stole with four minutes and change to go allowed Wilfried Zaha pick out Patrick van Aaholt on the break, and the Dutchman finished calmly to grab the match-winner. After a historic miserable start, Palace will end the season solidly at mid-table.

Crystal Palace manager Roy Hodgson expressed hope that Jason Puncheon can train with the club before the end of the season.

The veteran midfielder has been out since January after suffering a serious knee injury but has started running and could make it into training with the squad before breaking for the offseason. Puncheon's the closest of the club's three long-term absentees (Scott Dann and Bakary Sako) to returning according to Hodgson: "[Jason] Puncheon I see most of the three, he is running again now. But Punch, he is actually not that far away from being able to join us. It is not out of the question that he could be out there with us soon before the end of the season."

Just about everything that could go right, did for Crystal Palace, as they all but guaranteed their survival chances with a dominant 5-0 wing over Leicester City.

Today was the cherry on top of a magnificent turnaround season for the Eagles, who began the campaign with a league record seven straight losses, failing to score in all of them, and now look one of the more fluid midtable sides in the league. In the first half, James McArthur's backheel pass was slotted home by Wilfried Zaha. Zaha then returned the favor before the break, feeding McArthur who spun and blasted home. The Eagles coasted in the second half but poured on the goals when Leicester went down to ten men. Reuben-Loftus Cheek scored from a Mamadou Sakho ball and Patrick van Aanholt got on the score sheet with a Jeffrey Schlupp assist. The scoring wrapped up in the waning moments when Christian Benteke drew a penalty and converted it.

Crystal Palace can thank the gloves of Wayne Hennessey for the point they earned from a 0-0 draw with Watford.

The point brings Crystal Palace up into 15th in the table, six points clear of the relegation zone with three games to play. Hennessey stepped up for the Eagles with five saves against a fervent Watford attack, especially in the first half. Wilfried Zaha had two penalty chances denied on either side of half-time and was booked for simulation on his second chance, which looked more like a penalty than the first. But Palace were unlucky in the second half with both Luka Milivojevic and James Tomkins hitting the woodwork.

Jeffrey Schlupp returned to full training on Thursday, but he is unlikely to be considered for the squad which travels to Watford this weekend.

Speaking ahead of the trip to Vicarage Road, Roy Hodgson confirmed the 25-year-old is back with the group after missing the previous month. "Jeffrey trained today, which is great news and is much earlier than we expected after his nasty injury at Huddersfield. It's probably a bit close to think about including him on Saturday, and even though not out of the question, in an ideal world I would like him to have at least another weeks’ training." Schlupp has timed his comeback perfectly following his second major setback of the year [he suffered knee ligament damage in January] as Palace look to secure their top-flight status during the run-in. The Eagles are currently five-points above the drop zone knowing that a win would probably be enough. If it doesn’t come here, then they will fancy their chances with matches against Leicester, Stoke and West Brom coming up.

Jason Puncheon has paid tribute to the Crystal Palace medical team as he continues his recovery from a serious knee injury.

The Eagles midfielder has been sidelined since New Years Eve when he cynically hacked down Manchester City playmaker Kevin De Bruyne ending his own season. Manager Roy Hodgson confirmed at the time that Puncheon had ruptured his posterior cruciate ligament, an injury which he initially thought would keep him out until September. However, Puncheon has been making excellent progress in recent weeks and writing in his programme notes ahead of the Brighton game he revealed: "I am pleased to report that I have been able to get out on the training pitch and do some running. Without putting pressure on myself, I am hoping that in 2-4 weeks I will be [able] to train with the rest of the squad. I would like to thank Chris Morgan, Ed Richmond, Chris Petrie and all the medical team who have been fantastic to get me back to this stage, and I appreciate all their efforts in helping with my rehabilitation."

Crystal Palace pulled off a massive 3-2 win in their derby with Brighton to pull five points clear of the relegation zone with a game in hand.

A scintillating first half saw all five goals scored in the first 34 minutes of the opening stanza, starting with Wilfried Zaha's first goal of the afternoon. In the fifth minute, Zaha pounced on a saved shot in front of goal to take the lead. Less than 10 minutes later James Tomkins ended a mad scramble in the box with a goal after coming out of the chaos with the ball. After Glenn Murray cut the lead in half in the 18th minute, Zaha notched his second after latching onto a perfect cross from Luka Milivojevic for the header and what ended up being the winning goal for the Eagles at home.

Crystal Palace forwards Alexander Sorloth and Christian Benteke are in contention for the derby with Brighton.

Benteke missed the club's 2-2 draw with Bournemouth last weekend after sustaining a groin injury in training. With Sorloth and Connor Wickham both out, Wilfried Zaha was left to play as a false No. 9 for Roy Hodgson's side. However, Benteke and Sorloth both took part in training on Thursday ahead of Saturday's derby and are face fitness tests on Friday with the hopes of being available on Saturday as the Eagles look to stave off relegation: "Sorloth trained for the first time today. Benteke has made enormous progress and trained for the first part. We hope he will train tomorrow," said the manager. You can never be sure if there will be a recurrence of an injury, but I trust the medical team."

Christian Benteke became the latest Crystal Palace forward to suffer an injury and is now a doubt for the weekend.

Roy Hodgson could be left without a first-team forward against Bournemouth this weekend with Connor Wickham and Alexander Sorloth already ruled out for Palace and now faces a crisis in attack with Benteke pulling up with a groin injury in training this week. "Benteke limped off the training field feeling his groin so we won't know how well he is until the night passes and he comes in tomorrow morning and he will be assessed again. I asked the doctor to rate his chances and he is not prepared to and says we will have to wait and see tomorrow so if the doctor is not prepared to rate his chances then I can't possibly do so."

Crystal Palace announced forward Alexander Sorloth has suffered a setback in his recovery from a hamstring injury.

The Norwegian has missed the last two matches with a hamstring problem suffered in training in mid-March and was expected to return in early April. But manager Roy Hodgson said the forward is set for another scan, meaning Christian Benteke will continue as the club's lone forward with Connor Wickham still making his recovery. "He was making some progress, but he has felt his hamstring again and we don't quite know how bad that is," said Hodgson. It might be one of those little things that happens when you are recovering, but we will need to check it on Tuesday to be sure."

Luka Milivojevic scored his league-leading seventh goal from the penalty spot, but Crystal Palace would let their lead slip away and eventually fell to Liverpool, 1-2.

Even though they only had 25% of the possession in the first half, the Eagles put on a solid display in the opening 45 minutes, and were given an early advantage when Wilfried Zaha was fouled by Loris Karius in the area to earn a penalty. Already leading the league with six penalty goals in seven tries, Milivojevic was on the mark again, sending Karius the wrong way. As matches often tend to do, the dynamic changed in the second half. Palace would concede an equalizer soon after the restart, were frustrated by the lack of finishing from Christian Benteke, who squandered two chances in quick succession and were finally done in by the unstoppable Mo Salah.

Crystal Palace fans will be fretting over the health of Wilfried Zaha ahead of a big match against Liverpool this weekend.

The Ivorian international returned in Gameweek 31 to make his first start in over a month after sustaining a knee injury, only to pick up a knock that sidelined him during the international break. But manager Roy Hodgson said he remains hopeful that Zaha can return for the weekend: "Luckily all others reported back. Zaha hasn’t been training to any great extent as we’re nursing his knee problem that he has. We will have a look at him tomorrow and hope the knee will be ok but we’ve had to be very cautious after the Huddersfield Town game as he came back from injury much earlier than he should have done."

Crystal Palace will be pleased to have two starters back with the club instead of risking injury during the international break.

Winter arrival Alexsander Sorloth withdrew from international duty with Norway as he recovers from a hamstring injury that kept him out of the club's win against Huddersfield Town last weekend. But the biggest boost will come in the return of star midfielder Wilfried Zaha after the winger was called up for Ivory Coast's upcoming friendlies. After being assessed by the club, Zaha was released back to his club after picking up a knock in his first start since returning from a month-long knee injury.